THE GOLIATHUS CHRONICLES
Chapter 8- The Six Levels of Fear
And yet more angst. Disturbing images.
Little ones need not apply.
/
The black smokey mist had choked off all light and left nothing but a grasping hook of darkness, seeking its way through everything that even moved. Goliathus' mental self was running, as far and as hard as he could, but no matter where he turned the inky-black tendrils slunk their way closer and closer. He felt so utterly alone, miserable...and scared out of his mind. Why had he been such a fool? Why had he allowed himself to grow weak and allow this foul creature so far into his very being? His eyes were closed, he didn't want to see the horror that lingered behind him as he ran hopelessly... it's nauseating stench permeating his very soul.
He actually whimpered as he felt a tendril grab him, by the ankle.
It hissed in what vaguely seemed like a chuckle, then a blinding pain hit him square in the small of his back. He felt something wet and burning slither its way up his spine, felt a pressure around his neck.
/
Donovan grinned wider as he noticed that Goliathus' eyes had grown dark, almost black. The entire group was standing and watching with mixed expressions, and for a while, it seemed everyone was in some kind of trance. Save for Donovan who merely stepped closer with the stone, which was now actually giving off a dull glow.
Goliathus struggled to say something, but when he tried only a strange gargle lingered in this throat.
"Don't bother, my dear Goliathus. You are it's puppet now. You'll only speak if it lets you." Donovan turned his expression serious. "If you hear me, demon, listen...I will do everything to help you. To give you all the victims you can handle. I know what you want...more human souls. You will have them, just allow me to pick who they are...in turn for helping you."
There was a shriek...a furious spell of convulsing. Goliathus fell to the floor and lost the battle with the malicious force in his mind in the form of black liquid seeping from his eyes and mouth.
Eventually, the air became so foul that even Donovan started to gag. A small pang of fear ate at his conscious...just what was he releasing? Was he so sure even he wanted to open the door to a force as evil as this one?
Peh, why not? He would not just get rid of all the pests he was forced to be with in this room right now, but have all the humans he himself craved...he would have the blood, then leave the rest to the possessed heradus to finish off. What could be more perfect then that?
A voice then came from Goliathus as he suddenly got to his feet, blinking through eyes of complete darkness. It was a voice that certainly could not be identified as belonging to anyone in the room.
"Goooood...tell me my first victim."
"Ah, well, take your pick. Perhaps the vampire hunter...Trevor, is it?" Donovan turned to him and flashed a grin.
"So be it." In a snarling roar Goliathus headed for Trevor, leaping high into the air. Dinarius snapped out of whatever trance he was in and reacted, grabbing Trevor and knocking him out of the way.
He himself was landed upon, and clawed hands like vices gripped his neck, choking off his air supply.
And just as fast, he was let go.
Trevor had just gathered himself up off the floor when he saw himself being charged once again. Before he could even react, he was up against the wall and sharp nails were inches form his exposed throat.
Oh gods, I'm gonna die, aren't I?
Goliathus shrieked again, stepping back and grabbing his head.
Trevor looked on, a sadness washing over him. He was no real friend to the heradus...and yet...the creature was fighting the thing in his head...trying hard to harm no one.
It was sad and terrifying all at the same time.
/
No...NO!
WHY DO YOU FIGHT ME?
The decayed horse head reared and neighed, flaring its nostrils in rage. Then the center head, that of a dragon-like visage with eerie eyes of mismatched proportions and cloaked in shadow, opened its maw wide and roared. Another tendril came up from its throat and lashed out, grabbing Goliathus by his neck and squeezing like a constrictor. The heradus found himself feeling as if he could not breathe, even as he clearly knew breathing was not necessary in the mental plane. This was his mind, his conscious...but slowly he was losing claim to it, all the rules were changing.
He found himself gasping, trying to suck air in.
That was the biggest mistake he had ever made.
To his horror that same tendril slightly released its grip on his neck and like a heat-sinking missile aimed for his own throat. He gagged, heaved, punched and clawed at it as it slid down, trying to resist. What in the world was it trying to do to him?
I AM YOUR FRIEND...GOLIATHUS...LET YOUR HUNGER RULE...CONSUME ME...
Oh gawd. Oh gawd...no...no...
/
Ami found herself feeling very tired as she traveled down a path almost blinded by bright light. Soft whispers of happiness seemed to come from this place, wherever it was...she felt so free and alive...and yet...still so sleepy...
"Ami..."
What harm was there in continuing on, and embracing this light? It felt so calm and peaceful...like an end to all troubles and woes. Yes, she certainly wanted to go there.
"Ami...please help him..."
That voice, sounding so hopeless and full of despair...it doesn't belong here. Just let me go...to that marvelous light...
"Help him! Don't let him go!"
Leave me alone! I want to go there. Not back to all that pain...
"He needs you...without you he will fail...the demon has him..."
Demon? Ami stopped in her tracks, still staring at the light ahead but a crestfallen look spreading across her features. Goliathus? My Gollie?
"Yes...please help him...please help my son..."
Ami spun around, and a tall woman stood there, hair like waving fire and with eyes of emerald green. She wore a long, full-length gown that accented every one of her graceful curves, but the dress was torn in several places. Countless numbers of tears stained her almost perfect face.
"Help him..."
Her voice was so sad...so utterly sad...like she had lost all hope and was counting on one small yet very determined person to save the world.
To change everything.
"Ami...you are a miracle. The miracle that helped him then, and that he needs now."
You...you're... Ami stared deeply at the mesmerizing green orbs. You're Annabelle...
The woman stepped closer, and reached out a hand. Ami gazed at it for a while, hesitant, but then she took the hand, holding it tightly.
In an instant, images flashed into her mind. She heard people screaming...smelled smoke and ash...heard the agonizing wails of unmistakable pain...and she was no longer in the tunnel of light. Goliathus' story of his tortured past was flashing through her mind in more vivid detail then she would ever care to know...causing tears to instantly surface to her eyes.
It was unbearable, unthinkable. as she witnessed first-hand the man named Moren and his tiny instruments of torture poking at Goliathus' eyes, fingers...genitalia...the old and rusty metal rod jabbed down his throat, sometimes tearing through and forcing the group to cease as they stitched it back up and tried again.
The muffled and gargled screams as hot coals were put in with mud.
The knives that stabbed, twisted, and gutted...
Stop it, Annabelle! STOP IT!
"You must remember, Ami! You're here to help him...you can't go now...you need to make him forget all of that..." She began to fade out as Ami started to feel strangely stronger and more detached from wherever she was. "...to make him only remember you..."
/
Ami slowly awoke, blinking her eyes, sputtering and choking for air as if she had drowned.
Nobody noticed...and as she looked about she realized chaos was ruling.
Chasseur was nowhere to be found...Donovan stood and watched in glee as he held a strange black and glowing stone...Goliathus was attacking a man she had never seen before but seemed to be fighting hard against it, and...and...
Oh my gawd! Is that another...heradus?
Dinarius had no choice but to grab Goliathus and throw him clear across the room, even though it utilized a great deal of strength. He may have also been made a vampire killer, but he was nowhere the creature of raw power that the other was, and with only half the stamina. Already his heart was pounding and his hunger roiling.
The girl, awake!
"Huh?" Dinarius heard Puvo's words and looked around. Sure enough, he saw the wounded girl stirring. How in the world had she survived?
He went over to her quickly and picked her up. Damn, where was he going to hide her? Donovan was too entranced watching his nemesis battle with himself over Trevor, but at any moment he was sure to notice what was going on.
Ami groaned, gritting her teeth from the pain that wracked her body, but once again she opened her eyes. They widened once more as they saw the unfamiliar face.
"Hey there. Name's Dinarius...worry not lady, you have nothing to fear from me."
Ami's weariness was nearly melted away at his voice. She kept staring at him. He was so strange...looking like some kind of literal bat and human hybrid...and yet he had those eyes of painstakingly beautiful blue...a mane of thick and fluffy white fur falling like snow down the length of his back, and those teeth...so white...perfect...
What the hell is WRONG with me? Ami forced herself out of her thoughts and managed a weak smile.
"Well that's good to know. But can you explain what's going on?"
" I would but...no time!" Dinarius quickly ducked as a chair was aimed in his direction. Donovan had finally caught on and had instructed Goliathus to attack.
"So the girl lives, does she? It matters little, I have her child..." He patted the head of the infant roughly cradled in the crook of his arm, and she kicked out with a tiny foot, scratching his arm and leaving little rows of blood.
"Why you little..." He threw the child across the room, who knocked against the wall with a sickening crunch, and fell to the floor. Instantly the room was filled with high-pitched wailing.
It was enough to cause Goliathus to regain one ounce of sanity. He instantly turned and and lashed out with a wing, catching Donovan by surprise and knocking him down to the ground. Another wing lashed out in a violent snap, and Donovan yelled out as his left arm was nearly severed.
"That's it, Gollie! Get him!"
Goliathus looked at Ami then, realizing she lived. .
Ami? You are alive? He actually smiled.
She smiled back. "Yeah...are you...all right?" She tried to get down and go to him, but Dinarius held her back.
"You're in no condition to-"
Then Goliathus screamed out again. The lights in the room dimmed and wavered. Torches blew out. The air became renewed with a horrid stench and instantly both Ami and Trevor fell sick, retching.
"Oh damn it all...Donovan you fool, what have you done?"
But Donovan did not answer. He was still on the ground, and unmoving. Slowly his body began to shrivel and to Dinarius' shock he burst into flames.
Just like that, Donovan was dead.
Dinarius knew in that instant that the demon inside Goliathus was going to be nobody's pet. It would do what it wanted.
And Goliathus was its puppet.
He had to make a decision then, a critical one. It was hard, so very hard, to leave anyone behind, especially one who had helped and certainly didn't deserve to die.
But Ami was important, he knew this. He had to save her. She looked up at him, scared and confused, wondering what was going on and why everything had turned against her.
He also felt a strange feeling he'd never felt before. He looked down to meet her eyes, and there was something in the gaze that caused Ami to look away. Then she gasped and cried out to the little form on the floor.
"My baby!"
The child! In a lightning fast move, Dinarius ran and grabbed the baby girl, even though she cried again in protest at the rough handling.
But that was all the time he had, as a wild and consumed Goliathus snarled and was fast approaching.
"I'm so sorry Trevor..." He whispered, then turned and leaped out of the window behind him, taking to the air, and flying as fast as he could.
/
End of Chapter 8
Eh, I hope it was okay. As I've said before, I have trouble with getting my thoughts down sometimes.
But oh the twists this story will take...